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Cleveland Clinic has appointed its first Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer to direct the use of AI across the health system.
Ben Shahshahani, Ph.D., a technology executive with more than 20 years of experience in AI and machine learning, will serve as Vice President, Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, starting Aug. 12, 2024. He will report to Chief Digital Officer Rohit Chandra, Ph.D.
In this newly created role, Dr. Shahshahani will work closely with other executives, clinical leaders and data scientists to drive Cleveland Clinic’s AI vision of transforming healthcare delivery.
Among his responsibilities, he will lead the development and execution of an enterprise AI strategy, focusing on opportunities where AI can help transform patient care, caregiver experience, and organizational efficiencies, while ensuring that the use of AI puts safety first, and adheres to industry regulations, ethical considerations, and data security best practices.
“Cleveland Clinic sees great promise for artificial intelligence in healthcare, as it has the ability to improve care for patients and streamline work for caregivers,” said Dr. Chandra. “However, we need to be thoughtful about how we implement it. Ben has a track record of effectively and strategically applying new technologies to create beneficial change for organizations. We are excited to bring his expertise to Cleveland Clinic.”
Dr. Shahshahani joins Cleveland Clinic from SiriusXM and Pandora, where he served as Sr. Vice President of Science, Machine Learning and Product Analytics since 2021. In that role, he led teams that delivered machine learning solutions to – and analytical insights about – SiriusXM’s products. Their accomplishments include the development of new deep learning and Generative AI techniques for spoken language processing and sequential modeling, and personalized content recommendations for users.
“I am looking forward to joining Cleveland Clinic and working collaboratively across teams to advance the understanding and use of artificial intelligence in healthcare in a way that benefits patients and caregivers,” said Dr. Shahshahani.
In previous leadership appointments, Dr. Shahshahani served at Verizon Media/Yahoo from 2014–2021 as Vice President of Advertising Science, Search & Ad Targeting Engineering, and later as Head of Yahoo Research. Before that, he led teams at Google focused on targeting and ad campaign optimization. His technology career also includes past roles at Nuance and IBM with expertise that spans research and engineering in machine learning and AI, in areas such as search, advertising, speech, natural language processing, and personalization.
Dr. Shahshahani earned his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind. He is credited with numerous patents, publications and speaking engagements related to speech and natural language processing, search, and online advertising.
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. Cleveland Clinic is consistently recognized in the U.S. and throughout the world for its expertise and care. Among Cleveland Clinic’s 81,000 employees worldwide are more than 5,743 salaried physicians and researchers, and 20,160 registered nurses and advanced practice providers, representing 140 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic is a 6,690-bed health system that includes a 173-acre main campus near downtown Cleveland, 23 hospitals, 276 outpatient facilities, including locations in northeast Ohio; Florida; Las Vegas, Nevada; Toronto, Canada; Abu Dhabi, UAE; and London, England. In 2023, there were 13.7 million outpatient encounters, 323,000 hospital admissions and observations, and 301,000 surgeries and procedures throughout Cleveland Clinic’s health system. Patients came for treatment from every state and 132 countries. Visit us at clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at twitter.com/CleClinicNews. News and resources available at newsroom.clevelandclinic.org.
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